Rosemary's Baby cinematographer William Fraker dies aged 86

The renowned British cinematographer William A Fraker, who earned six Academy Award nominations during an illustrious career, has died in Los Angeles. He was 86.

Fraker’s body of work includes Rosemary’s Baby, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Bullitt and Paint Your Wagon. He was nominated for Looking for Mr Goodbar, Heaven Can Wait, 1941, War Games and Murphy’s Romance, and received a sixth for visual effects on 1941.

Fraker also earned three BAFTA awards for War Games, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and Bullitt and in 2000 he received the American Society Of Cinematographers’ (ASC) lifetime achievement award.

He liked to mentor young film-makers, who cannot have failed to be inspired by the master’s dedication to the art. During the San Francisco shoot of Bullitt, Fraker famously held aloft a camera while strapped to the front of a Mustang travelling at more than 100mph.

“William Fraker embodied not only the consummate artistry that was necessary to become a legend in his craft but also the romance and glamour of making movies,” ASC president Michael Goi said.

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